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FoodTech Weekly #85 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
February 04, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #85
Hi there,
I recently had a chance to to try some beta products from QOA, which aims to replace cocoa-based chocolate in mass-market products. They do this by manufacturing cocoa-free products using precision fermentation (for a deeper dive, listen to this Appetizerinterview we did with QOA co-founder Sara Marquart).
Others have done a much better job of thoroughly reviewing the QOA beta products. My thoughts: These chocolates were visually pleasing but QOA still has a lot of work to do to nail the flavor. But it's early days, and I get what they're trying to achieve. So I'll be curious to follow QOA's journey.
Image: QOA Supermassive Test Kit
By the way: If you see a crow walking around with a cigarette in its mouth, looking like a badass, don't be alarmed -- it may actually be your friendly local litter patrol. More on that further below.
This week's rundown:
What's buzzing: Enorm Biofactory raises $50M to build Scandinavia's largest insect-as-feed facility
A replacement for Haber-Bosch? Swedish NitroCapt banks €3M to develop fossil-free fertilizer
Under pressure: Canadian startup bags $2M to use fluid water jets to facilitate no-till agriculture
Let's go!
Conversations
I've had an intense week, but more conversations are coming soon!
Noteworthy
California startup Zero Acre Farms came out of stealth with a $37M raise (backed by Lowercarbon Capital, Fifty Years, S2G Ventures, Virgin Group, Collaborative Fund, FootPrint Coalition Ventures and Chef Dan Barber). Vegetable oils such as e.g. soybean, sunflower, canola, and palm oil, are used to make most packaged foods and meals (french fries, nuggets, mayos, sauces, spreads, margarines, salad dressings, chips etc), but are linked to chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity, cancer and diabetes -- and vegetable oils are also linked to about 20% of tropical deforestation. Zero Acre Farms will use precision fermentation to produce an oil which is not only healthier but also better for the environment.
Danish insect protein startup Enorm Biofactory has scored a €50M ($56M) funding round. Key investors were DLG, The Danish Green Investment Fund, and Nykredit Bank. Established in 2017, the company produces protein from the Black Soldier Fly (fed by residual biomass from the food industry), which is then used as feed for pigs, poultry, fish, and pets. Armed with the new funding, Enorm now plans to build the largest insect-as-feed factory in Scandinavia, aiming for an annual production of 11,000 tons of insect protein.
Swedish AgTech startup NitroCapt has secured almost €3M in new funding, of which €1.8M is equity and €1M grants. Backers included LRF Ventures, Almi Invest, SLU Holding, EIT InnoEnergy, and others. Production and use of nitrogen fertilizers (through the conventional Haber-Bosch process) enables high yields in agriculture, but also account for almost 2.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. NitroCapt has developed a novel chemical process which only needs water and renewable energy to fix nitrogen from the air. The company will now build a pilot plant in Germany and expand the team.
Florida-based vertical farming company Kalera is listing on NASDAQ through a SPAC with Agrico in a deal valuing the combined company at $375M. The company currently has 4 facilities online, with 6 more under construction.
Image: Kalera
Botanical Solution Inc (BSI) of California has closed a $6.1M Series A round backed by Otter Capital. The company, which orginally started in Chile in 2013 but relocated to the U.S., develops botanical-based biofungicides. BSI's product can prevent and control Botrytis cinerea, one of the most harmful fungal diseases in high-value crops worldwide, which results in hundreds of millions of dollars worth in losses every year.
California company Akorn has received EU approval for its edible coatings for fresh produce, which cut moisture, rot, and decay losses in half in the supply chain.
Canadian startup Susterre has bagged CAD$2M in fresh funding. Its technology used ultra-high pressure fluid jets (used to cut steel) to slice through compacted soil; this reduces the cost planting by 13%, improves germination rates, expands the planting time window, and helps support no-till agriculture.
Image: Susterre
Danish plant-based meal kit company Simple Feast announced a DKK 200 million ($30.7M) round, led by Vaekstfonden (the Danish Growth Fund) and Swedish investment firm Kinnevik. The company will use the new funding to expand internationally, especially in the U.S. (article in Danish, paywalled). Just last year, the company raised DKK 70 million ($10.7M).
San Fransisco-based Black Sheep Foods has secured $5.25M in Seed funding. The company produces meat-free lamb analogues based on e.g. pea protein. Investors in the round included e.g. New Crop Capital, AgFunder, Siddhi Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Image: Black Sheep Foods
In an effort to recruit tech talent, IKEA has started to 3D-print plant-based meat balls.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Wildtype (US) is hiring for a number of roles... Better Dairy (UK) is recruiting a Head of Operations... Karma (Sweden) is looking for a Key Account Manager... Meatable (Netherlands) wants to bring on a Business Controller... FUL Foods (Netherlands) has an open position for Finance Operations Manager... QOA (Germany) is hiring a Marketing Magician... The EVERY Company (US) has a bunch of non-technical roles available... Protix(Netherlands) is looking for a Marketing & Business Development Director... Nowadays (US) is recruiting a Brand Marketing Manager... New School Foods (Canada) is hiring for a number of positions.
Trade organization Plant Based Sweden has released a new report (in English) on how Sweden should invest in plant-based foods.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet. Important 15 min video from the New York Times. And on a similar topic: How Europe's Big Meat and Dairy are heating up the planet (this fact really stood out: Just 20 European meat and dairy companies combined produce the equivalent of more than half of the U.K., France, and Italy's emissions). So yeah - beef has a sustainability problem.
The Swedish city of Södertälje has recruited wild crows to pick up discarded cigarette butts, rewarding the birds with a little food for each butt deposited in a bespoke machine designed by a startup.
Image: YouTube
The world's first-ever pillow fighting league has held its first championship game, with 24 men and women competing for the title of Pillow Fighting Champion and a grand prize of $5,000. Reminds me of the Extreme Ironing World Championship, first held in Bavaria back in 2002.
A robot vacuum cleaner escaped from the Travelodge Hotel in Cambridge, U.K. enjoying its travels as it 'had no natural predators in the wild'.
Now that's a threat:
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Hvad f**k er en bælgfrugt? by Kølner Dom ft. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter. And here's the Appetizer which I co-host. Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.